1. Technical Field
The present improvement relates to collapsible table constructions, and more specifically to such tables which are secured along one edge to a wall or other support to project outward therefrom and are adapted to be placed into a collapsed orientation against the wall.
2. Description of Background Art
A need exists for supporting a loaded 32-inch wide wall-mounted fold-down table which minimizes interference with access to the erected table. There exist support hinges for legs of free-standing tables, but those legs, which are attached to the table with such hinges, stand vertically when the legs are in the opened position supporting the table. Configured in this way, such table legs obstruct foot space below the opened table. Furthermore, while there exist commercially available hinges for supporting a collapsible shelf from a wall, such hinges possess limited weight-bearing capacity. Therefore, such hinges are useful only for shelves up to approximately 14 inches wide. These shelf-hinges are usually made of metal with a locking mechanism at the hinge-pin. This hinge configuration cannot support a heavy load because torque induced at the hinge-pin by a loaded shelf can easily exceed the bending threshold of a metal stop which supports the shelf in the locked configuration.
Over the years various solutions have been developed for supporting collapsible wider shelves and tables from a wall or other support. Common characteristics shared by various solutions include fastening one edge of the table to a wall or other support by conventional hinges. These hinges permit the wide shelf or table to be raised to a horizontal orientation in which it projects outward from the wall or other support. Such hinges also permit the table to be lowered to an orientation with the table collapsed against the wall.
Another common characteristic shared by various solutions for supporting a collapsible wide shelf or table is an elongated two-piece brace which, when extended, spans between an upper attachment along an edge of the table furthest from the wall, and a lower attachment to the wall or support below hinges securing the table thereto. When disposed in this position, the brace forms one side of a triangle with the table and the wall or support forming the other two sides of the triangle. In these solutions, opposite ends of the two-piece brace are secured by various hinge constructions to the edge of the table and to the wall. The solutions also exhibit various constructions for coupling together adjacent ends of the two piece brace at a location along the brace's length between the table's edge and the wall or other support. These two-piece braces also employ differing structures for locking them in their table supporting configuration. Brace locking structures may be broadly classified into those which are located at an end of the extended brace, and those which are located about the middle of the brace.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,601 entitled “Folding Table Construction” (“the 601 patent”) discloses a folding brace which has a locking structure located at the brace's upper end. The folding brace includes upper and lower struts both of which have a channel or U-shaped cross-section in which a web spans between a pair of side flanges. A pin secures a top end of the upper strut to the table at the edge thereof which is furthest from a hinge securing the table to the wall. A pin also secures a bottom end of the lower strut to the wall or support below the hinge. A pair of pins, each of which respectively spans between a side flange of the wider lower strut and a side flange of the narrower upper strut, join together ends of the upper and lower struts about the middle of the brace. The channel or U-shaped lower strut is wider than the upper strut for receiving one end of the upper strut when the brace is in its extended linear configuration, and substantially the entire upper strut when the brace is folded for storing the table against the wall. When the table is in its raised horizontal orientation, a coil spring-loaded latch member, moveable longitudinally within the upper strut, engages a stop member that is located at the edge of the table which is furthest from a hinge securing the table to the wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,107 entitled “Workpiece Support and Clamping Assembly” discloses a folding brace having a locking structure located at the brace's upper end. A rivet located about the middle of the brace provides a simple pivot that joins together opposite ends of the two piece brace. The locking structure located at the brace's upper end includes an over-center locking-means, and a self-actuating locking means. The locking structure also includes release levers for releasing the locking means. When the brace is locked in its extended position, it may be collapsed inwardly into a folded storage position only by actuating its release lever. The disclosed locking structure precludes the brace's collapse by jarring the hinges.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,414 entitled “Folding Table for Wall Mounting” (“the '414 patent”) also discloses a folding brace having a locking structure located at the brace's upper end. Each brace includes an elongated lower support strut pivotally connected to a wall bracket. A shorter upper locking strut connects pivotally between the end of the lower strut furthest from the wall bracket and the edge of the table. The locking strut pivots inwardly and upwardly from an intermediate linear configuration of both struts to engage the underside of the table resting thereon when in the table is in its raised, horizontal orientation. In the collapsed position, the brace's struts rotate outwardly from both the table and the wall to fold between the wall and the vertically oriented table.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,484 entitled “Versatile Wall Mount Folding Table” discloses a folding brace which has a locking structure located at the brace's lower end which is the complement of that disclosed in the '414 patent. Each brace includes an elongated upper support strut pivotally connected to the edge of the table. A shorter lower locking strut connects pivotally between the end of the upper strut furthest from the table's edge and a wall bracket. The locking strut pivots inwardly and backwardly from an intermediate linear configuration of both struts to contact the wall when in the table is in its raised, horizontal orientation. In the collapsed position, the brace's struts rotate outwardly from both the table and the wall to fold between the wall and the vertically oriented table. Varying the vertical distance separating the upper hinge, which secures the table's edge to the wall, from the lower wall bracket, to which the lower strut connects, permits the table's surface to slope rather than being horizontal thereby adapting the surface for use in drafting.
U.S. Pat. No. 687,031 entitled “Folding Brace” discloses a brace having a locking structure located about the middle thereof. The brace's lower strut is forked along most of its length furthest from the wall to receive a lower end of the upper strut located furthest from the table's edge. This forked end of the lower strut carries a pivot therebetween which includes a friction-roller. The friction-roller passes through and engages a cam-opening which pierces the adjacent lower end of the upper strut. A catch which is fastened to the lower end of the upper strut engages the forked upper end of the lower strut, and operates in conjunction with the pivot and the friction-roller for automatically locking the brace in its extended, substantially linear configuration. In the collapsed configuration, the struts respectively fold toward the table and the wall with the upper strut resting within the forked end of the lower strut.
U.S. Pat. No. 859,454 entitled “Bracket” discloses a folding brace that also has a locking structure located about the middle of the brace. Specifically, the brace's locking structure includes a plate that spans across the width of the brace's upper strut. The locking structure also includes flanges which curve around and enclose the upper strut's opposite longitudinal edges. Configured in this way, when the strut is disposed in its substantial linear configuration the locking structure slides downward along the lower end of the brace's upper strut to engage the lower strut's upper end with the lower strut's opposite longitudinal edges received into the curved flanges. Portions of the curved flanges about the middle thereof which extend further across the struts' widths engage a hinge which joins the lower end of the upper strut to the upper end of the lower strut. Thus, the extended portions of the flanges prevent the locking structure from sliding further down the lower strut when the table is locked in its horizontal orientation.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,541,342 entitled “Combination Ironing Board and Serving Table” also discloses a locking structure located about the middle of a two-piece brace. When configured for use as a serving table, a pivot joins the lower end of the upper strut to the upper end of the lower strut. A stop, formed as part of the upper strut engages the lower strut to retain the struts in a linear configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,483,899 entitled “Collapsible Shelf” also discloses a locking structure located about the middle of a two-piece brace. The brace's upper strut has a U-shaped cross-section. A pin secures a top end of the upper strut to the edge of the table furthest from hinges securing the table to the wall. The lower end of the upper strut includes a cam surface which includes a filler block that spans between opposite sides of the U-shaped strut. The upper strut's cam surface includes a retaining notch. Two parallel lengths of material disposed respectively on opposite sides of the U-shaped upper strut form the lower strut. These two parallel lengths of material at their ends nearest the upper strut are held apart from each other by a locking bolt. Elongated longitudinal apertures pierce each of the parallel lengths of material forming the lower strut near its juncture with the upper strut. Each of the elongated longitudinal apertures respectively receives one end of a pivot pin which passes through the U-shaped upper strut to extend outward on both sides thereof. When the strut is locked in its linear configuration, the portion of the locking bolt which extends between the two parallel lengths of material is received into the cam surface's retaining notch. Helical springs which engage the material forming the lower strut at its attachment to the wall apply a torque to the lower strut which urges it to remain in the brace's linear configuration with the locking bolt received into the cam surface's retaining notch.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,843,436 entitled “Wall Mounted Folding Table” (“the '436 patent”) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,533 entitled “Locking and Unlocking Folding Brace” (“the '533 patent”) each respectively disclose similar folding braces having a locking structure located about the middle of the brace. Channel or U-shaped upper and lower struts of the braces respectively disclosed in the '436 and '533 patents have structures which are substantially the same as those of the upper and lower struts disclosed previously for the '601 patent. However, the braces disclosed respectively by the '436 and '533 patents omit the upper strut's latch and stop members disclosed for the '601 patent. Also, the braces disclosed respectively by the '436 and '533 patents replace the pair of pins, each of which respectively spans between a side flange of the wider lower strut and a side flange of the narrower upper strut, with a single pin that spans between both side flanges of the wider lower strut for joining together the upper and lower struts' adjacent ends about the middle of the brace. Longitudinal slots that pierce both of the wider lower strut's side flanges respectively receive the opposite ends of the pin that project outward from the narrower upper strut's side flanges. Near the pin that joins together the upper and lower struts, the upper strut's web carries a latch member or cleat thereby creating a gap on the upper strut which is adapted to receive the adjacent end of the lower strut's web. When the table is raised to its horizontal orientation which places the two struts in a linear configuration, sliding the lower strut's web into the gap created by the latch member or cleat locks the brace in its extended configuration.
All of the braces described above appear to be made of metal. Presently, a solid plastic, wood-alternative material made from 100% recycled polyethylene plastic obtained from soda bottles, detergent bottles, and milk containers is available from a number of different manufacturers. This solid plastic, wood-alternative material is strong, impact resistant, and “wood-like” in appearance. Furthermore, this material is maintenance free, and needs no painting or superficial maintenance. Similar to wood, the solid plastic, wood-alternative material can be cut, drilled, mitered, routered, and sanded with conventional woodworking tools.
One characteristic of the solid plastic, wood-alternative material, in comparison with most types of natural wood used in fabricating outdoor architectural structures is that it has slightly less mechanical rigidity. However, because in many instances mechanical requirements of structures are moderate or may be accommodated by an appropriate design or hidden structural supports, the solid plastic, wood-alternative material's lesser mechanical rigidity does not prevent its use in such structures.